Washington County law enforcement host checkpoints county-wide

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - Local law enforcement banded together Saturday night into early Sunday morning to make Washington County a safer place to drive.

Starting at 10 p.m., 50 officers from the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the Bartlesville, Dewey and Ramona police departments and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol together ran four checkpoints in Washington County.

They were looking for such violations as expired driver’s licenses, lack of insurance and other traffic safety related infractions as well as for those who are “Over the Limit” drunk driving.

The checkpoints were positioned at the Highway 75 turnoff to Ramona, another on Highway 75 near Dewey and two on Bartlesville's east side — one on Highway 60 at the turnoff for the industrial park and the other at the Bison Road industrial park entrance.

According to Washington County Sheriff's Office undersheriff Steve Johnson, officers at the four locations during the operation wrote a total of 196 citations and made nine arrests. The arrests consisted of four DUIs, one public intoxication, one possession of a loaded firearm, two possessions of controlled dangerous substances and two possessions of marijuana.

At the Highway 75 Dewey checkpoint alone, officers checking southbound vehicles processed 350 to 400 vehicles, issued 85 citations and made two arrests, said Johnson.

“We had two arrests, one for DUI and one was for possession of marijuana and methamphetamine,” he said.

Bartlesville Police Department Sergeant Warren Morrow, one of perhaps a dozen officers stationed at the Highway 60 site, told BartlesvilleLIVE about one hour into the four-hour long operation that officers were already busy.

He said officers found a number of violations that for the most part were insurance related or pertained to such issues as defective lights and other equipment.

According to Bartlesville police officer Pat McCarty, at that checkpoint police had already found one DUI case and arrested one motorist on drug charges.

Morrow said motorists passing through the checkpoint were very cooperative.

“We have had several say they appreciate it actually,” he said.
One motorist, Leslie Heitkamp of Miami, said this was the first time she had ever been through such a checkpoint.

“I guess it's a good idea. They can't catch everyone just patrolling,” she said.

The night's operation was part of the National Mobilization on “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest” event held the same day nationwide.

A grant from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office to the Washington County Sheriff Office will help the Sheriff Office to pay deputies for overtime for their participation in the National Mobilization on “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest” event.